Hunt
by Addict to Fanfics
Summary: Civilized? Perhaps, though there was no other choice. To be otherwise would draw far too much attention in this age. Still, there was nothing quite like the thrill of a successful hunt. A random piece of somewhat childish humour.
1. Thwarted

**After the absolutely pitiful number of reviews I've received on other things I've posted (yes the stories were short...) I'm not really sure why I'm bothering to _post_ something new.** **Please review. I don't care if you say you hate such and such a part because flames will probably be used to cook someon- er... some_thing_ or other and criticism could be useful, but how can I get any better if I receive basically no feedback? This story is significantly longer than my others so I'm pretty sure there has to be something someone wants to comment on...**

**If anyone's wondering why I'm bothering to _write_ something well you can blame Jay Feathers**(notice the S2SOSC tag) **instead of plot bunnies that sit and look cute just asking to be written I got ones that bite when you don't. Blood-thirsty little things... **

S2SOSC for J. Feathers and Shya K.  
This story kind of got away from me…

This story is posted as Henry and Vicky. It heavily points toward V with the cold beer, Chinese food and coffee addiction. I did leave it purposely ambiguous though with the female character so that if you prefer you can envision it as Coreen. College aged – cold beer, take out food and a boss that's severely grumpy without a regular caffeine fix.

Thoughts are in _italics_.  
It does bounce back and forth in their perspectives but I'm pretty sure you can tell when they switch 'talking' so I'm not putting a page break each time. (or rather ff.n ate my previous breaks and I'm not rebreaking them)

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He stood hidden deeply within the night's shadows and waited. There, she was done for the day. Finally he could see his chosen prey. It was time for the hunt to begin.

She sighed, heavily. It had been a long day and she was so glad it was almost over. Oh, it hadn't been difficult; in contrast the work had been routine and boring. The sheer amount however had been enough to bury her without breaks for hours. It was late in the evening now and though home and a cold beer therein called her, she still had a few errands to run before quitting for the day.

She shivered as she stepped out the door. The wind reached her through the light fall jacket she had chosen in the morning, and she clutched it tighter around herself to try and ward off the wind's biting chill. _Right, errands to run before heading home. First the bills to be posted, then coffee for the office machine tomorrow and most importantly I want Chinese to go with that beer._

She headed down the block towards the nearest mailbox, her head tipped low toward her chest to help ward off the wind trying to get into her jacket. An abrupt noise from a nearby alleyway on the other side of the street made her momentarily falter in her brisk walk._ Just a stray. Probably scared itself silly._ Despite the thought, she took a brief cautious look at the alleys near her. Seeing no obvious disturbances she moved on.

Hidden safely within another alleyway he cursed softly. Now she would be more on edge, and hadn't even had a chance to attempt his approach as he had been waiting for the ideal moment. He briefly considered finding the source of the noise and disposing of it. Thinking the idea petty of him, he discarded it and focused again on the night's target.

He had thought to use the alleys himself. Now though as she passed them, she moved herself to the edge of the sidewalk closer to the street. While it would still be possible to use them, he found himself balking at the idea of being likened to some common stray tomcat. He'd have to think of something else.

Uncertain of where she was headed next, he followed her movements from the rooftops this time in order to make sure she didn't catch a glance of him if she turned abruptly to check her surroundings once more. He wasn't sure how much the previous incident had spooked her, though he noticed her slightly changed posture, so he thought a measure of caution would not be amiss and allowed her to travel some distance to be sure she had calmed at least somewhat. _While I'm up here anyway perhaps an old stereotype could be of use. Swooping down from the sky to catch her unawares has some promise. Hmm… the perfect rooftop then. Not too tall, with no awning on the front to get in the way and perhaps a street light that is slightly more dim than the others. Shouldn't be too hard to find._

No more noises erupted in the quiet night and she found herself relaxing a little more as she reached the mailbox. _One down, two to go. Now the nearest store to get coffee from that still open would be…there. A longer walk than I'd like but it would be murder to be stuck in the office tomorrow without it._ She dumped the letters in the mailbox and checked to make sure they'd slid in before heading off with her head tipped downward once more, though not so far as before in order to be able to see her surroundings better. She wanted these errands done quickly; while not freezing out it was uncomfortably cold to be walking for extended periods.

She walked on a few more blocks in relative silence with only the occasional car passing by to break the monotony of her trek. _Damn wind! Tomorrow I am definitely picking a heavier jacket. I don't care if it's not as comfy as this one, if I'm going to have to be wandering this late again I'd rather not freeze my_—

Her inward rant cut off abruptly as something slammed into the pavement beside the apartment building she was walking by, landing perhaps 5 feet in front of her. The shock of it caused her to jump back a foot further before moving forward once more to see what had landed. A mangled pot of half-dead flowers greeted her. Glancing upward she caught sight of a balcony filled to overflowing with pots similar to the one she had gotten an up-close view of, though no person seemed to be in sight. _What the...?_

She examined the pot more closely. _Certainly a heavy one but, how did it end up falling down here?_ Looking up again she noticed several pots did actually seem to be sitting on the balcony's thin railing, though some of them were swaying precariously. _What? How...? _The pot she was holding had a few small pieces of wire attached she had previously disregarded. _Whoever lives there wired them to the railing. The wind tonight must have been enough to tear this one off. Just lucky I wasn't a few feet farther down the sidewalk._ Having moved the pot and its assorted loose fragments off to the side of the walkway she hurriedly walked on looking upward till she'd passed a fair distance from the dangerous balcony. She was close to the store now anyway and was looking forward to the heated atmosphere after dallying by the mystery pot.

On the roof of the next building over a figure drew back from the edge that faced the street. A frustrated sigh escaped them as a hand combed back through their hair. _A pot of flowers. Seriously? First a stray cat, now a potted plant! How am I supposed to jump down there now? Be the second of the night to drop in front of her and she'll probably just blink at me and look up to see_ _if_ anything else_ intends to drop from the seemingly empty sky. The cat was safe but now, I have half a mind to push off the rest of those pots and blame the wind._ He watched from the rooftop as she entered a small all-night corner store located just down the street. _Third time's the charm then. I am not going to be beaten at my own game. I'll figure out something else...again._

A bag with the newly purchased coffee swung from her arm as she stepped out of the corner store. Quickly she shoved her hands in her pockets to combat the persistent chill. While she hadn't noticed it earlier the fact that this store was so far from the office did have an advantage. There was an open Chinese place just a couple minutes walk down the road from it and she made her way there with a lighter step now that she was on her last side trip before heading home. _Dinner here I come! They'd better have reasonable prices; I am _not_ in the mood for another trip if the cost is thru the roof._

A quick stop found the prices decent and the smells wonderful. She left with far more than she had planned on getting. _The leftovers can be tomorrow's lunch. At least that way she can't make any comments about me shirking my work for a leisurely lunch break...even if I deserve one occasionally. _With the coffee on her right arm, the takeout on the left and her hands safely ensconced back in her pockets she headed home. _From here if I cut thru the park just up the street, it could cut off almost a third of my walking time. _She hesitated only briefly at the park's entrance before continuing. _I'll be fine and the sooner I get out of this cold the happier I'll be._

_The park! This I can work with. The classical stalk. There are plenty of trees along the path to switch between._ With fairly childish glee he rubbed his hands together as he grinned and entered the park behind her. Though he could tell this portion of the park was devoid of people except for the two of them he saw her occasionally glance somewhat cautiously at the trees that lined the path they took. She was obviously wary of anyone who might be hidden within their shadows. _And right you are to be nervous. Though, you've got no idea what's in store for you._

He followed quietly as she walked and waited till she'd calmed down and started to enjoy the park before beginning to advance on her. It had taken a fair portion of the walk but the reaction would be worth it. He slipped from tree to tree until he was only 4-5 meters back from where she was walking. Searching at the base of the trees as he went he looked for a dry stick he could use for his distraction. He had it planned perfectly. He was not going to let _this_ opportunity pass.

3*~*~**~Alt~**~*~*3

Walking along the path she needed to take made her exceedingly nervous she hadn't realized this section was so poorly lit. Still it wasn't that far now to the exit and she relaxed as she walked, enjoying what parts of the park she could see in the moonlight. Suddenly the loud crack of a branch being broken made her freeze and look off to the side. The bushes there rustled as something moved through them. A dog's scruffy head poked through. She sighed in relief as the dog extricated itself from the bushes and began to wag its tale as it sauntered closer. _Must have smelled the food. God knows the smell has been driving me crazy and my nose is nowhere near as sensitive._ She moved over to one of the benches that littered the walkway and placed her bags on it as she sat down.

The dog nuzzled the bag containing the food before it sat down and whined pitifully, shamelessly begging for some of the contents. _It must be used to begging food off a lot of people in the park but this cold snap has kept most people inside. I did buy more than I should have... a few pieces will be fine._ She took one of the containers from the bag and fished a piece of beef out of it. _Might as well see if he knows any tricks if he's used to begging._ She held the piece and tried the basic command of 'lay down'. It did so and she tossed the piece telling it, that it was such a good doggy. Several more pieces disappeared as it performed a series of commands. _Seriously if I had the time for a dog this would be the one to adopt. At the least I'll need to come back some time to feed him again he really is a sweet stray._ She stood brushing off her outfit and holding one last piece of meat after having put the container away. She tossed it the last piece and bid it good bye telling it she'd come again. It seemed to understand the gesture and circled her once, happily barking, before taking off to another section of the park as she headed to the exit with her bags once more swaying on her arms.

Safely hidden behind his chosen tree, he cursed aloud before he could sensor himself. Freezing momentarily he concentrated on the sounds coming from the other side of his hiding place. She still seemed absorbed in talking to the mutt that greeted her enthusiastically. _Damn it! I was so close too. Half a minute more and it would have worked like a charm._ He peeked out from the tree's trunk. She was feeding it! That thing had ruined his plans and she sat on a bench cooing to it and sharing some of the food she'd previously bought. Obviously it had originally belonged to someone as, while its coat looked ragged and it was in desperate need of a bath, it listened to simple commands to sit or roll over for treats. _We're almost out of the park. If I tried it now she would probably just blink, smile and ask if I wanted a snack as well. Maybe she'd even ask if I'd perform tricks for it!_. If the park wasn't going to be an option though, he still had the rest of her walk home.

As nice as it had been to sit and play with the park's stray she was still relieved to be in the open again. She could handle herself well if it came down to a confrontation but there was no reason to tempt fate. Looking down the street, having exited the park, she caught sight of a cab that was just pulling away from the front of an apartment building a few buildings down from her. Sitting in the cold to feed the stray had not done her any good; her feet were frozen. It was a simple decision to try and hail the cab, luckily enough it stopped, the cabby having seen her wave in the mirror. Quickly she headed down the street into the waiting cab. Having given the driver the address she relaxed into the warm seats glancing back only briefly at the park that she would have to remember to visit.

It just wasn't fair. The alleyways had a tomcat, the rooftops a lost pot and the park stereotypically had a stray dog. Every plan, used by the night, before he himself had a chance to utilize them. Honestly what were the chances of it? An evening of fun foiled at every turn. Apparently tonight was not his night, at least he could still have one more shot at it though. He left the park with that in mind and looked up the road to just in time to see a cab pulling away bearing his nights choice. _What?! But my chance! I was supposed to have another shot at this..._ He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair walking from his spot in the park's exit fully onto the sidewalk. _I give up. I just... give up. Another night will have to do. At least she hasn't a clue that I was following her._ _I can just imagine the ribbing I'd get for 'stalking' her all evening._

She wondered what Henry thought of the night. Yes, she knew he'd been following her; she did work in a P.I. agency. His distinct scent caught when she'd passed by a number of alleys, glimpsing his figure on_ the roof_ when she had examined the balcony and hearing him curse for some reason when she'd fed that dog in the park. That and actually seeing him walk onto the sidewalk after the cab she'd managed to get started to drive away. Altogether an amusing evening, she didn't know why Henry had bothered to follow her but perhaps tomorrow she would get the chance to tease him about his stalker tendencies.

The End

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I really had way too much fun spoiling Henry's plans once I got started with it so this was actually an alternate ending to how I'd planned it when I started his little hunt. I'll post the original ending as a separate chapter and you can tell me which you liked better. It'll be from the 3*~*~*Alt

**Chapter 2 the alt- ah that is to say, the 'original' ending to this is done also and will be posted shortly.**

Please do review and tell me how I did - even if it's only a few words. I can't get any better if no one will ever review these things.

Want to know the funny part? When I sat down to write this it mutated, _massively_. Originally I had an idea for a short, somewhat serious introspective on Henry's part regarding living only at night. No one else was involved. I get an idea of how I want the story to go in point form, write a title and summary first then the actual story. I got the first 3 sentences of the summary written then the fourth line hit and you ended up with this instead. Can anyone tell me what happened? If anyone's curious the original title was Night and the original summary's end was supposed to be something along the lines of 'still, civilized by no means meant social. It was exceedingly hard to maintain contact when one was dead to world for the day.' Anyone think I should get around to eventually writing it or are my writing skills that bad?


	2. Success

Chapter2

**Ok so my definition of 'done also and will be posted _shortly_' needs a little bit of adjusting. I got distracted, it was just a few hours... regretfully though, it was not by something shiny. =(**

Original - A successful hunt.  
The first paragraph is taken from chapter one to help you reference when in the timeline things change. This ending refused to turn out how I wanted… but I got tired of rewriting it.

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He followed quietly as she walked and waited till she'd calmed down and started to enjoy the park before beginning to advance on her. It had taken a fair portion of the walk but the reaction would be worth it. He slipped from tree to tree until he was only 3-4 meters back from where she was walking. Searching at the base of the trees as he went he looked for a dry stick he could use for his distraction. He had it planned perfectly. He was not going to let _this_ opportunity pass.

Quickly he snapped the branch and used his speed to discretely move to a tree that was in front of her on the path. As she spun towards the sounds he moved out from behind the tree and quietly came up behind her. Four meters. Two meters. Directly behind her. She was turning back now having found nothing where the sound came from. _And the show begins._ "Good evening"

Walking along the path she needed to take made her exceedingly nervous she hadn't realized this section was so poorly lit. Still it wasn't that far now to the exit and she relaxed as she walked, enjoying what parts of the park she could see in the moonlight. Suddenly the loud crack of a branch being broken made her freeze momentarily before she spun towards the sound's source. It had sounded like it had come from a small group of bushes by a nearby tree, though there were no further sounds or movement to indicate a presence there. Her hands clenched tightly within her pockets still she cautiously approached the tree and bushes. _No movement_. She moved to the side to get a better look. _Nothing there. I'm just jumping at shadows._ She relaxed and made to turn back to her original course to be confronted with an up-close view of a man's jacket.

The owner's face was still hidden by the intermittent tree shadows that lined the path. "_Good evening."_ Later she would vehemently deny it but she emitted an only somewhat strangled yelp at his proximity. She jumped back and drew the stun gun she had been gripping in her pocket swinging the weapon toward him. The bag holding the coffee dropped carelessly to the ground. Then the voice registered. "Damn it, Henry, what the hell?"

He stepped forward grinning rakishly at her. "I believe the appropriate response is supposed to be, 'good evening, Henry'." He placed a hand above her shoulder, leaning against the tree she had backed herself into in her haste.

"Yes, yes. Good evening, Henry", she said, seeming a little uncomfortable with his close presence.

He withheld the smirk pulling at his lips, feigning ignorance at the awkwardness of their positioning. "You seem nervous this evening. I do hope everything is alright," he said, peering at her closely, pretending to show concern at the possibility of a previous incident. The scrutiny made her more nervous still, though he pretended to be unnoticing of it. "Well I can assure you at least that we're alone here. Nothing more than a few strays hunting around at this time in the evening." His assurance that no others were present did not seem to comfort her. _So amusing. All wound up over nothing and she doesn't suspect me in the least._ "All the same though, perhaps you'd like an escort to the park's exit?"

"The exit?" She asked, somewhat confused that he'd be staying there afterwards.

"Well I do so rarely get a chance to enjoy the park when it's quiet. The summer months are busy even in the dark and even I prefer to not trudge through the winter snow. This cold snap though means everyone, well almost everyone," he grinned amusedly at her, "avoids the park. It's nice to be able to enjoy the greenery on occasion." He leaned back from her and grabbed the bag containing the coffee before offering her his arm. "Shall we?"

Success finally. It was a guilty pleasure of his, but he really did enjoy frightening people with his vampire given gifts and so rarely could he use them freely with people. The strangled yelp she emitted was quite amusing; it bore teasing at another time.

She wouldn't admit it but walking alongside Henry like this, she was glad he'd showed up. She'd been jumping at shadows the entire evening it would seem. First a cat in an alley, then that potted plant. Now Henry himself pops up out of the night. Perhaps his entrance could have been a bit nicer instead of scaring her out of her skin but his presence did alleviate any (un-admitted) fears of what might be hidden in the shadows. After all, a vampire at one's elbow was certainly enough to take care of that which goes bump in the night.

The end (for good this time…)

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Ok this was supposed to be how it originally ended but honestly having written both I preferred the alternate(that I posted first). Tell me what you think of each. Does Henry deserve his amusement or is it more amusing to see his fun being thwarted by random chance?


End file.
